Hello everyone it is Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips. Today I want to give you a little bit of verbiage, a couple of thoughts about convincing a lead that they need to sell today vs. waiting. And what’s important for them about waiting? So, let’s just think about this how many people out of ten would you convert today if you were a little bit more aggressive in your approach?

See, I would say that you have a lot more power to persuade then you all think you do. In fact, my favorite quote is, “Our job as a great sales person is to help people overcome their natural fear and hesitation to achieve the goals that they have set.” So people do procrastinate and I think a good way to get past that is to really ask some questions to help them self-discover.

I’m curious, why is that important? What will waiting do for you? If you thought you could net more now, could you do it? If we could have limited showings to make you feel more comfortable would that be something that would be acceptable? And then of course pointing out the logical benefits and that’s why you always want to have your list of good reasons as to why they should buy now or sell now.

So what percentages of the time will that work? It really depends on how motivated they are and it depends on you just digging out that motivation, and encouraging them step by step. So I will give you an example, I was at the gym working out and I heard one of the guys mention that he was getting transferred to Arizona and he said that they weren’t going to be leaving until late spring.

So I asked him, “So Tom do you want to move by April or May?” He said, “Yeah, I want to put my home on the market in January. I just don’t want to be bothered over the holidays.” I said, “Well, why don’t I introduce you to my husband and he’ll help you, and here’s a thought, why don’t you guys at least get together. Let’s get a game plan in action. Let’s look at the prices, the trends and let’s figure out the best strategy for you in terms of timing, and if you decide you want to you could always do a quiet sale over the holidays to test the market.” And he said, “Yeah, that would be great!”

Don went over and met with them right away and they will be listing the property soon. So, you need to get in early. Establish that connection and work to see if we could move forward and get them to sign sooner, which we couldn’t. So, here’s what we often do wrong. If they tell us they don’t want to move until the spring we don’t call them until the spring and then they’ve already listed.

So just keep in mind whatever time frame they tell you get in front of them as soon as you possibly can, take it as far as you possibly can, and get that contract signed if you can even if you need to hold on to it.

Alright guys have a great day and I look forward to talking to you soon.

Hello everyone and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips and today we’re going to talk about call reluctance.

So, feeling uncomfortable making the call to people that you know specifically and asking directly for a referral. So were going to talk about calling the people you know. Now, if you’re experiencing this feeling it’s rather normal. Many of our clients tell me that they feel that way. But I want you guys to consider something, I want you to think about someone you do business with, maybe it’s your dentist, your doctor, your hair dresser.

I’ll give you a small example, there’s this lady who does my nails and she is an unbelievable worker. First of all she’s really good at what she does and she works from 7am to 7pm. She’s just amazing and professional and texts you and reminds you of your appointment.

Now would it bother me at all if she said you know Debbie I have a little space in my calendar, who do you know that might need my help? Of course it wouldn’t bother me. You know if you have a great vendor that you use and work with and they go above and beyond to take great care of you, would you be offended if they mentioned that they really valued and appreciated your referral? Of course not!

Why do you think that the people you take such good care of, that you helped changed their life, why would you think that they would be offended to talk to you? Look at it this way it really doesn’t make any sense at all. It’s business, everybody needs to make money.

But here is what I would suggest, work on your mindset just a little bit today, let’s remember how valuable and knowledgeable you are and then create a theme, put some information together, some reason to call them that you really feel is value-added and helpful. Then you call and ask for a referral.

Remember, many of you get most of your business from the people you know. Think about how much more you’d get if you actually called and asked for it.

Have a great day and we’ll talk to you soon.

Good morning and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips. So, the question to answer today is…

Q: What is a contact exactly?

A:         Well, for the purposes of our coaching and our coaching clients we consider a contact a conversation that is live. So you either have to be looking at them and talking to them or you’re on the phone with them. I'm not saying mailing or emailing or texting is wrong, but when we’re talking about making 20 contacts that means actually speaking to people. Then you can still do all the rest of the activities around that but I really want you to go out and see the people.

Alright so, contact, a live conversation with a decision-making adult. Now, they may hang up on you, they may close the door, they may not talk with you but you had that attempted conversation and they count as a contact. Thank you and have a great day I’ll talk to you soon.

Good morning and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips. I’m answering questions from our viewers and listeners and clients, and one of them today is…

Q: What can we expect from absentee owners in terms of the ratio of contacts to appointments?

A:         Now of course, this is going to depend on a few factors. It’s going to depend on your market, it’s going to depend on your skill, and your approach. Many of the people we coach are in a resort market. So for you the absentee owner will be someone using it as a vacation home potentially it could still be a rental property. Then, of course, we have the absentee owner who uses them as rentals. If you haven’t been marketing them already then they’re really not going to be a warm call. However, what I find with the absentee owners is that they are a little bit more curious because often they are not as in touch with that market where they own the property.

So for example, we have a property in Northern Idaho, and if someone called me today and said, “I’m a realtor here in Idaho and I’m calling about your property,” right away he has my interest because first of all I'm thinking, “What happened? Did it burn down?” And then if he says he just wanted to give me a quick market update and wondered if I had any plans to sell

the property? You see, again I’m interested because I’m really not in touch with what’s going on in that market and therefore the rejection, you may find, will be a bit lower.

They do have a lot of questions but look at the absentee owner script because one of the things that I’ve learned is it’s very easy for you to get used for free information. Here is what I mean by that. They’ll say, “Well, you know, I’d sell if the price was right.” “Oh okay, well what would that price need to be?” “A million dollars,” and you know it’s worth $750,000. “Okay, well, I can understand that would be a great price,” and then I’m going to just cut right to the chase and really lay it on the line about what that property is worth just to see if they’re real.

Now, if they own it as a vacation home maybe they want to upgrade their location. If they have a rental property maybe they want to do a 1031 exchange and buy something else or just purchase an additional property in the area. I wouldn’t volunteer to do CMA’s for everyone. I would carefully question and qualify then you are going to weed out the people who are just using you.

Alright guys, have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon on the next Debbie’s Daily Tips.

Good morning and welcome to Debbie’s daily tips. I’m answering questions that are sent via email so maybe some of these questions I’ll be answering in our series will be things that will be helpful to you. And the questions today is…

Q: What is the magic secret in working and finding phone numbers?

A:         Well, I can give you a few resources. The one my husband and daughters use is one that kind of stands, I think, apart from the rest in that they do give you general phone numbers where you can look up streets, but you also can get cell phone numbers. Now not every cell phone number but a fair percentage of cell phone numbers available. It’s easy to find them they are a nationwide company. It’s COLES Realty Resource. Now, I think it’s around $600 a year for the subscription, but you’re going to have to double check that. I do believe it might be possible for you to share that service and you could have multiple users.

I do know that some brokers provide the program so I believe that that would be possible. Now if you’re calling a lot of expired listings and that’s a very very big part of what you do and there is a pretty good amount of them it might be worth investing in Vulcan7 if you can access them in your area. They are an expired service that provides cell phone numbers. That’s what makes them unique. They are a little bit more expensive, and I believe that they limit the territory to a certain amount of users. Now, if you are in a market that only has a handful of expireds or Vulcan7 isn’t worth your investment you may look at some other sources. Spokeo, LexisNexis, PeopleFinder or PeopleLookup .com. There’s LandVoice, there’s Redex.

So there’s a lot of different sources out there but it really is worth hunting down which one is going to work best for you. If you’re an aggressive prospector you may need more than one source.

Alright so, figure out your numbers, your source, your numbers to call, and then have your prospecting plan ready the night before so you can get in that office and hit it hard. Talk to you soon.

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips. What I thought I would do for the next series of tips is answer some of the questions that have been sent in to me via email.

 So we’ll start with today…

Q: How can I improve my response on expireds? (Getting connected to them and getting a valid appointment)

A:         Well, a few things whether it be for an expired or a for sale by owner or really any prospect group that you guys may be working with I think it’s important to identify as quickly as we can is it a real condition or is it an objection? Sometimes that sounds simple but sometimes it’s not that simple because often people will tell you what they want to tell you to get rid of you. But are they actually telling the truth?

For example, if I walk into a department store and a sales person says, “Can I help you?” often the first thing we say is, “No we’re just looking,” even when we are there to buy something. So the fact that they tell me they’re no longer going to move, doesn’t cause me to assume that they’re telling the truth. I’m going to dig a little more deeply with my questions and then, of course, I’m going to look to find out if they are not a now possibility are they someone that would be valid for me to continue to follow up with?

One thing I never want to do with a prospect is make them feel wrong, make them feel confronted so really no matter what they say I’ll acknowledge or approve. “I completely understand, sorry if I bothered you in your day and you know, I just want to check in and see what you’re planning to do. May I ask, do you think you would try again in the future?” If they say that they might I would then ask them, “When do they think that would be?” Let’s say for example they say, “Not until the end of the school year.” Then I’m going to ask them, “Well, would you want to just be getting the home on the market at that time or actually having it sold in June?”

So again I am clarifying their time frame and then I’m going to continue to ask questions. “If you thought that there would be a financial advantage to selling it sooner, is there any way at all that you might be able to do that?” Now of course they may tell me “no.” They may say, “Its just so far away where we are moving we can’t drive back and forth, but we can list in May, move in June or July, but we’re absolutely not going to do it before.” Okay, so probably this is a very clear condition. So if I know it’s a condition I’m going to ask them if they would be open at that time to interviewing agents. And, if I stay in touch and I do a good job in keeping them informed, would they at least commit to giving me the opportunity to meet with them? Because, you see, I don’t want to just throw them in my lead pile and waste time on them if they are not even open and receptive to having a future conversation with me.

Alright guys, so, feel free to email me additional questions you might have. I hope today’s tip was helpful and I’ll talk to you on the next daily Debbie’s tips.

Tony Hanggie has been a San Diego resident since 1991. He first obtained his real estate license in 1985 after graduating from Cleveland Chiropractic College. While running a successful Chiropractic office, Tony worked in the real estate world part time. In 2006, he decided to pursue his passion of solely practicing real estate. Tony brings with him industry prestige, as he has held titles such as Associate Manager and Top Sales Leader for a well-known real estate company, and mentor to new agents. He has also been a recipient of the 5-Star Professional Real Estate Award for the past four years.

Tony settles only for perfection for his existing and prospective clients. He has extensive knowledge of the communities and lifestyles that contribute to the diversity of San Diego. He prides himself on his outstanding communication skills, talent for first-class marketing, and knowledge of schools, sports teams, public centers and neighborhoods only a local can offer. Tony's passion for the real estate business transcends market data, allowing him to deliver continued success to buyers, sellers, and investors seeking any real estate solution. It is this passion and knowledge that make him a favorite among individuals relocating to the area.

Tony can be reached at 760-846-5932 or by emailing [email protected]

If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips!

So do you know your numbers? Do you know what you really need to do in order to achieve the goal you have set? Let’s break it down! The income goal you have for the remainder of the year, lets divide it by the average commission check to find out the number of units you need to do.

Then lets break that down per month, how many units per month? Now it’s a good idea to take as many listings each month as you want to do in units. That way we assure you have enough in your pipeline. How many hours do you need to prospect and how many people do you need to talk to each week, and how many people each day?

You see once you have your numbers figured out the next step will be to time block the lead generation and other money making activities into your schedule so that you have a very clear action plan to follow. Make it a great day and I look forward to talking to you soon!

If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Good Morning it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips!

Today we are going to talk about your money and profit. So write this down, what your goal for this year is, in terms of income, and then I want you to subtract the other income that you have coming into the household, outside of the income you are earning selling real estate.

Now, next I want you to subtract any personal expenses, business expense, and other obligations, and lets not forget about your taxes. See the number that is left over is the number to spend or save, or to do whatever you want to do with it. But what is that number? And what is it that you would like to spend it on?

You see I often find agents that earn just what they need to get by and then they coast, often because they do not have a clearly defined plan or goal for what they are going to do with the extra profit that they earn. This often causes complacency. So again spend it on paper, write down every dime of it, every dime should be ear marked for a particular use. Whether that’s savings, donations, investing in the business.

Once you identify a clear need for the money you earn, it’s a lot more likely that you will keep pushing through to get there. Have a great day and I’ll talk to you on the next daily tips.

If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips!

Hey I wonder what are the standards for the clients you will work with? Have you identified these standards clearly or do you just work with anyone who comes your way? The reason I ask is the other day I met with a group of agents all doing over a hundred deals in their own persona production. And they shared a common belief that they needed to avoid high maintenance and low profit people and focus on the people they enjoyed working with and that could move quickly through their pipeline.

So I encourage you, define your standards for the buyer sand sellers you’ll spend time with and once you define them, stick with them. Here are a few for you to consider, 1. They are ready, willing, and able to buy or sell within “X” number of days, and you define what that “X” is, 2. They are willing to commit to work with you exclusively, 3. They are respectful and responsive when you contact them, 4. They are realistic in their expectations, 5. They are working in a price point and an area that you serve.

So who currently is on your list of leads and prospects that do not meet your standards, and what you need to do or say to either bring them up to the standards you set, or consider letting them go, so that you can replace them with a better prospect that will convert more quickly. Make it a great day and I look forward to talking to you soon!

If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!